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Mothers, Grief, and Ancient Greece

October 27, 2015

It was our 14th trip, and our third trip back to the beautiful, welcoming, and mesmerizing islands of Greece. Six moms, all grieving the loss of a child (or two), were joined by the incomparable Angela Mavredis (co-owner of Endless Blue), her enchanting assistant, Katrin Tschurz, Captain Spiros, First Mate and Gourmet Chef Xenia, and lovely Anastasia. How lucky we were to have so much love and support while we sailed the Aegean Sea and navigated the very complicated landscape of our broken hearts.

After an unforgettable day at the Acropolis in Athens (the Gods gifted us with rain), we boarded our beautiful boat, named Serenity (how perfect is that?), and set off on our adventure. We visited Ciros, Mikonos, Tinos, Paros and Kythnos. While each island is unique, all boasted charming villages, dozens of churches and chapels with doors open for us to rest and reflect, and extraordinarily kind and concerned citizens. On one island, we found a doctor who did it all (there’s a story there).

Our stories came with us, and took surprising and not unwelcome shape. We honored Grant, Loraine, Cord, Nick, Zach, Aren, Christine, Robby and Chris. While none of this comes easy (overseas travel, meeting strangers, and working through our fears), we find ourselves surprisingly freer and more in awe than when we all started out.
We are grateful to all who made this trip possible, including the very generous donors to our scholarship fund, the owners/directors of Endless Blue, and the owner and crew of our home away from home, Serenity.